Optics of a War Zone at the Border

Along the border between the United States and Mexico, the Trump administration has

established designated military zones under the Department of Defense across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona– a directive aimed at expanding military presence despite a significant

decline in border crossings. Stryker armored vehicles previously stationed in Iraq and

Afghanistan patrol the border, soldiers are equipped with combat-grade weapons, and

surveillance technologies like drones and intrusion detection systems scan the terrain. 

What prevails is a border that has become a theatre of power – a 30-foot steel bollard

wall, defended by razor wire and guarded by masked and nameless patrol officers with assistance

by the Texas National Guard and the US Military.

Since 2016, photographer Laurie Smith has driven the dirt road running adjacent to the

border wall from El Paso, TX, to Columbus, NM, documenting the 55-mile-long “national

defense area,” a recently redesignated zone that restricts public access and blurs the distinction

between the military and domestic law enforcement. Any establishment of a new military area of

this scale cannot be approved unless Congress expressly authorizes it. The Trump administration

circumvented Congress by first declaring a national emergency and then by expanding military

bases along the border, justifying the increased military presence and the detention of migrants as

part of the bases’ military purpose to protect their own installations. 

Smith’s documentary project, The Optics of a War Zone at the Border, urges us to look

more closely at what the border represents and how it has transformed into a zone where

humanitarian needs are met with the machinery and intensity of war.

Laurie Smith

Photographer and art activist Laurie Smith tells stories through narrative photography while exploring the complexities of culture. For more than 30 years, she has photographed food, culture, and travel in a reportage style. Laurie approaches her subjects honestly, with only her Leica and a monopod strapped over her shoulder, taking advantage of ever-changing natural light to photograph the story in front of her.

She has shot over 35 cookbooks and photographed for regional and national publications, including Denver’s 5280  magazine, Saveur, and Food & Wine, traveling on assignments to markets, kitchens, and restaurants around the U.S. and the world.

For the past nine years, she has turned her eye to something close to her heart.

Laurie’s roots in West Texas pull her to the U.S.–Mexico border to document what is unfolding at the border wall.